Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-04-09
AN OLD THEORY.
THE STRANGE AHD uxACcouNrAsLz
pIsAPPyAnAHCE OF MRS WALKER.
Some Few Persons Believe that Mrs.
walker Went to Heaven Like
Elijah, &C., &c.

peannce of Mrs. Walker ON the lith
of February from her home, on Tulip
street. has given rise to many curious
conjectures, and as the days 60 by and
no clue, no thread, can be found to lead
out Of the vale of mystery, some peo-
pie form new theories, which are rs
lacking in probability as many which
have been heretofore advanced.
Whatever opinion may be brought
forward, it is certainly most strange
that an old woman (seventy-seven years
old should leave her room in the mid
die of the night, go into her daughters
room, borrow her shawl, throw it around
her, 90 into the back yard, and be no
more seen by any human being. II the
earth had opened and swallowed. her
up, or il she had been taken into the
air and carried TO Heaven or to any
foreign land, her whereabouts conid
not be more effectually concealed from
her friends and the people OF Rich-
mond.
THE TRANSLATION THEORY.
Many still believe she wandered 70
the dock and fell in and was drowned.
Others maintain that she fell into some
old well in the neighborhood. Both OF
these ideas should give way when it Is
remembered that the dock has been
dragged and the old wells and sur
rounding country diligently searched.
That she fell in the river is still plausi-
bic, but the brother Of Mrs. Walker.
Mr.. J. NJ. Barrett, of Portsmouth, in
cIines to a new opinion. A Dis
patch reporter was talking to Mr..
White, Mrs. Walkers son-in-law,
yesterday, and in the course
of conversation relative to the
lost one, Mr.. White said that he
had received a letter from Mr.. Barrett,
in which that gentleman expressed the
opinion that his sister had been trans
lated to Heaven as Elijah was. "The
way he happened to express such a
view was when he wrote me, in answer
to letter In which / asked if he didn't
think we had better employ detectives
to look for Mrs. Walker, he re-
piled no, and gave as the reason what |
have Just told you. And he said that
this was not alone bis opinion, but that
Or. A. Z. Owen, Of Portsmouth, con-
Cured in it.
THE GARMENTS.
But what about Mrs. Walkers
clothes?" asked the reporter incredu-
lousy. eff / remember the story Of
Elijah's translation Alright, the mantle
which he wore fell from him, but you
have found no trace Of any Of Mrs.
Walkers garments, not even the shawl
which she borrowed from your wife"
Don't you know that there are n
great many good people who believe
God is nll-powerful and can do any
thing? believe God could dispose OF her
clothes in some way as easily as he did
of Elijah's cloak which fell ON the
shoulders Of Elisha. And that theory
is as probable as some others which
have been advanced. If we admit the
Bible to be true, we can certainly
credit Mr.. Barrett's opinion, and the
same God lives now as i'll Elijah S
time"
THE DAUGHTER.
docs your wife think her mother
was translated into Heaven?"
"No, she doesn't. Sometimes she
thinks the old lady was carried away
and is being held for large ransom,
and then again she believes other
things. Her views. like mine, are
changeable, and we don't know what to
think. When Mrs. Walker got out OF
the back door that night We don't know
what happened, and until she turns up
we will be cropping in the dark"
"You don't think she fell in the river
then ~
at seems improbable that she should
be in the water. 1t is very true Mar
shall Vest was in the water from the
Goth OF December until the 22d OF
March, and negro was in the dock re-
Gently for over three months, but those
cases were in midwinter. In the sum-
mer the water is warmer, and body
will decompose and rise much sooner. "
well, good-day. II You hear any
thing of Mrs. Walker let US know" and
the reporter left.